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Homo erectus
Homo erectus (meaning 'upright man') is a species of archaic humans that lived throughout most of the Pleistocene geological epoch. Early fossil evidence for homo erectus was discovered with specimens dating from roughly 1.8 million years ago (discovered 1991 in Dmanisi, Georgia), in Hubei, China (min 2.15 Ma),Hao L, Chao Rong L, Kuman K. 2017 Longgudong, an Early Pleistocene site in Jianshi, South China, with stratigraphic association of human teeth and lithics. Science China Earth, 60(3): 452-462 Yuanmou, China in 2008 (dated to 1.7 Ma), in Gongwangling, China dated to 1.63 Ma (2015), along with stone tools from 2.1 million years ago (discovered 2018 in the Loess Plateau, China) created by an as yet unconfirmed hominin species. H. erectus has been hypothesized as a direct ancestor of the later hominins including Homo heidelbergensis, Homo antecessor, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo denisova, and Homo sapiens.Klein, R. (1999). The Human Career: Human Biological and Cultural Origins. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, . A debate regarding the classification, ancestry, and progeny of H. erectus, especially in relation to Homo ergaster, is ongoing, with two major positions: :1) H. erectus is the same species as African H. ergaster; and that the African branch, H. ergaster, ultimately evolved into modern Homo sapiens in Africa or, :2) it is in fact an Asian species or subspecies distinct from African H. ergaster, and that H. erectus would later undergo back-migration to Africa, where it would evolve eventually into modern homo sapiens, Some paleoanthropologists consider H. ergaster to be a variety, that is, the "African" variety, of H. erectus; the labels "Homo erectus sensu stricto" (strict sense) for the Asian species and "Homo erectus sensu lato" (broad sense) have been offered for the greater species comprising both Asian and African populations. H. erectus eventually became extinct throughout its range in Africa, Europe and Asia, but developed into derived species, notably Homo heidelbergensis. As a chronospecies, the time of its disappearance is thus a matter of contention. The species name proposed in 1950 defines Java Man as the type specimen (now H. e. erectus). Since then, there has been a trend in palaeoanthropology of reducing the number of proposed species of Homo, to the point where H. erectus includes all early (Lower Paleolithic) forms of Homo sufficiently derived from H. habilis and distinct from early H. heidelbergensis (in Africa also known as H. rhodesiensis). In this wider sense, H. erectus had mostly been replaced by H. heidelbergensis by about 300,000 years ago, with possible late survival of H. erectus soloensis in Java as late as 70,000 years ago, or up to 550,000 years ago. The discovery of the morphologically divergent Dmanisi skull 5 in 2013 has reinforced the trend of subsuming fossils formerly given separate species names under H. erectus considered as a wide-ranging, polymorphous species.Skull suggests three early human species were one : Nature News & Comment Thus, H. ergaster is now well within the accepted morphological range of H. erectus, and it has been suggested that even H. rudolfensis and H. habilis (alternatively suggested as late forms of Australopithecus rather than early Homo) should be considered early varieties of H. erectus. References Category:Humans Category:The Humanoid Universe Category:Ultraverse Category:Cartoonverse Category:Dramaverse Category:Horrorverse Category:Comedyverse Category:Actionverse Category:Bloodverse Category:Apocalypticverse Category:Spiderverse